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30 Interesting Socrates Facts

A philosopher by profession, Socrates can rightly be called as the father of Western thought. He hailed from ancient Greece but not much is known about him. Whatever information exists today is a result of some of the records that were kept by his disciples such as Plato. The interesting Socrates facts that we write down here today are taken from those fragmented information. So, let us begin and find out some interesting facts about the life of this great philosopher.

Interesting Socrates Facts: 1-10

1. It was around 470 BC when Socrates was born in Athens, Greece.

2. Socrates’ father was Sophroniscus, a sculptor and stone mason from Athens and his mother was a midwife by the name of Phaenarete.

3. He received basic Greek education because he did not belong to a noble family and hence, he learned the skills of his father at a very early age.

4. Before turning a philosopher, Socrates took up masonry and sculpting as his profession for several years.

5. According to the records of his students named Aristophanes and Xenophon, Socrates used to take money for teaching and that was his only source of income that helped Socrates to sustain a livelihood.

6. Contrary to the records of Aristophanes and Xenophon, Plato, one of the most popular disciples of Socrates said in his records that Socrates simply denied receiving any payments for tutoring his students and hence, lively a very lowly and poor lifestyle.

7. Xanthippe was Socrates’ wife. The two had three children by the names Menexenus, Sophroniscus and Lamprocles.

8. According to Socrates’ disciple Xenophon, Xanthippe was not happy with the ‘philosopher’ profession of Socrates and complained that he did not support his own family.

9. According to Xenophon, Socrates was far more interested in intellectual upbringing of young minds of Athens rather than looking after the upbringing of his own sons.

10. According to Plato’s records, Socrates served citizen soldier in battles of Potidaea, Amphipolis and Delium during the Peloponnesian War. Plato’s records state than Socrates served as a hoplite (armored infantry) as per Athenian law and was absolutely fearless and courageous in battlefield.

30 Interesting Socrates Facts was last modified: July 17th, 2017 by Sankalan Baidya

Founder and Chief Editor of Facts Legend, Sankalan believes that information should be free. He is a dreamer and loves reading, writing, traveling and above all, sleeping. Sometimes he gets really confused about things happening in life but then again, he manages to get things back on track. He practices Tai Chi whenever he gets time. Slightly unsocial by nature, he still manages to get along with people pretty well. He hates politics and absolutely hates people who like to judge others.

It doesn’t have “30 interesting facts.” It is basically a brief summary of Socrates’ life with numbered paragraphs. I was expecting something more like, “Fact 7. Socrates was an avid tea drinker,” or “Fact 9. Socrates liked to gamble in his free time,” or something. Like after the first few “facts” rest are just biography of Soc.